7 Costly Retirement Mistakes to Avoid

It’s easy to get in over your head when it comes to credit-card debt, and retirees are no exception.

According to New York-based research group Demos, those 65 and older from low- and middle-income households carried average credit card debt of $9,283 in 2012, the highest debt load of any age group in the survey.

Since 2008, seniors reduced their credit card debt by 6 percent, but here again, that reflects the smallest decline of all age groups, according to the survey. During the same four-year period, those ages 25 to 34 reduced their balances by nearly 51 percent.

“Seniors rely on their investments and money from their 401(k)s, and with the financial crash that resource is not as available as it has been,” says Amy Traub, senior policy analyst at Demos. “Hence, we haven’t seen the large decline in credit card debt among seniors that we’ve seen among other age groups.”